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 Feeding Your Box Turtle
As with most captive reptiles, most medical conditions for which box turtles are presented to veterinarians result from malnutrition, either directly or indirectly. As stated above, box turtles are omnivorous. They will eat whole animals, such as meal worms, snails, slugs, earthworms and other invertebrates that may live in the humus and leaf litter in which box turtles normally hunt for food in their natural habitat. Box turtles also readily accept fruits, berries and certain vegetables.
Box turtles can be successfully raised by feeding a diet of whole
animal substitutes, such as:
- Reptile-Fare (Reliable Protein Products,
Los Angeles, CA 90048),
- low-fat, soft dog food (Cycle 4, Gaines Foods,
St. Anne, IL 60964), or
- semi-moist dog food (Gaines Burgers, Gaines
Foods, St. Anne, IL 60964).
Fruit (berries of all types, bananas,
pears, peaches, papayas, guavas), vegetables (chopped, thawed, frozen
mixed vegetables, squash, yams) and edible mushrooms should be provided
as well. The fruits and vegetables provide additional vitamins,
minerals and moisture, as well as necessary roughage. Many hobbyists
believe a ratio of 1/2 to 2/3 whole animals and/or whole animal
substitutes to 1/3 to 1/2 fruit and vegetable matter offers the best
results.
Fruit-loving box turtles can be persuaded to eat a wider
variety of foods by mixing soft dog food with pureed or chopped fruit.
Other foods can be judiciously added to the aforementioned items,
including cottage cheese, chopped hard-boiled or scrambled egg, grated
cheese and yogurt.
A completely natural diet (one that a wild box
turtle would select for itself) can never be exactly duplicated under
conditions of captivity. For this reason, and because the exact
nutritional requirements of box turtles are unknown, vitamin-mineral
supplementation is advised.
Powdered supplements intended for reptiles
(Reptical and Vita-Life, Terra-Fauna Products, Mountain View, CA 94042;
Reptovite, Verners Pet Products, Long Beach, CA 90807) should be
sprinkled each day over food moist enough to ensure adherence of the
product We prefer the powdered vitamin-mineral-amino acid supplement,
Nekton-Rep (Nekton Products, W. Germany) and believe it to be superior
to the similar products listed above.
Environmental Temperature and Frequency of Feeding: Box turtles can be
fed daily, though many hobbyists feed them every other day or 2-3 times
weekly. They will not eat at low environmental temperatures and
likewise cannot digest food well at low temperatures. Consistently warm
environmental temperatures must be maintained, especially at night, for
box turtles kept in colder climates, or for those not allowed to
hibernate.
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Source:
Printed with kind permission of Animal Hospitals-USA where you will
find pet health care information for keeping your pets healthy.
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